Mako's Crew(s)

[Mako]

Ooh, skittles would be good. I so should have written about those instead...

[underdog6750]

Where abouts in the uk have you moved to mako?

Ive recently got back into malifaux after leaving the hobby for various reasons. Glad to see you are still on the forums and as friendly and help full as ever. Look forward to your next article

Oh and if you want to borrow some paints ill also lend you a few of my minis to 'practice on'

[Mako]

Good to see you back, underdog!

I'm currently in York, staying with the parents while I find a job. After that, who knows...

I'm good on paint now, between the wamp store (the owner of which basically took a list of my paints and ordered everything he could from his distributor the next day) and the dubiously titled (but reliable) SnMStuff for the few the other store couldn't get hold of, I'm stocked on that. My main order turned up yesterday.

I just wish I'd thought to buy glue do I could assemble stuff!

[Mako]

So then, here's the first of a sporadic bunch of text walls know as the musings of Mako...

 

So, why do I use additives?

Simply put, it’s because I want more control over the way the paint behaves. It doesn’t make me a better painter; it just means I can make sure the paint doesn’t fight me when I use it. It’s far more useful to know how to paint well with just water than to start using additives early in your painting (mostly because it takes time to work out what you actually need the paint to do). I know some award winning painters who don’t use anything but tap water. They don’t need to change the way the paint behaves, so they don’t needlessly complicate their painting.

 

Acrylic paint is made of two components suspended in water – the pigment, and a binder. As the water evaporates, the binder particles combine to form a solid resin that keeps the pigment in place. If there isn’t enough binder, the paint can’t cure and will peel away or rub/wash off. This is really important when adding stuff to paints, as some additives don’t contain any binder while others do. If you add a bunch of stuff without thinking, it can really mess up the paint. I try never to go below 50% binder, if I can.

Other than watching how much binder there is in the mix, the three major properties of paint (not counting colour) that I’m normally concerned with are flow, opacity, and drying time.

 

Flow affects how the paint stays on the brush and goes onto the model, and whether it pools or stays in thick coats. The thicker the paint, the more details you’ll obscure. Thinner paint will flow off the brush in smoother layers, but won’t cover as well and can pool in the recesses if it’s too dilute. Flow is really a combination of surface tension and viscosity, but most things that affect one will affect both to some degree.

 

Opacity is the density of the pigment. A very opaque colour like black will cover in a single coat, while less pigment rich paints (yellows and reds, often) can take multiple coats to build up enough pigment to cover things. Diluting paint with any additive spreads the pigment in a larger volume, so they all reduce opacity (as a function of volume added).

 

Drying time is obvious, really. Longer drying times keeps paint on the palette workable longer and makes blending easier, but delays putting on second coats.

 

There are four additives I use in paint, each for a different reason:

 

Flow Improver – does what it says on the tin; improves paint flow. It’s basically very dilute soap solution, which reduces surface tension as well as reducing viscosity. It’s pretty powerful, and usually needs diluting before use. Lots of this creates a wash like effect that pools very heavily in the recesses. Does not contain binder.

 

Drying Retarder – increases drying time, also thins paint and improves the flow a little. Lots of this can prevent the paint drying at all. Generally, one drop is enough for several drops of paint (no more than 25% of the paint’s original volume). Does not contain binder.

 

Matte Medium – reduces opacity without increasing flow or changing drying time. Helps avoid pigment settling. Can cause shine, though it contains talc to reduce that a bit. Effectively pigmentless paint. Contains binder

 

Water – improves flow a little, extends palette drying time (because there’s more water to evaporate off) but only a small effect on surface drying time. Tap water is fine unless you live in an extremely hard water area, only bother using distilled water if your paints go chalky when you water them down. Not really as necessary if you’re using a wet palette. Does not contain binder (obviously!).

 

Because of the effect of adding volume to the paint, everything that doesn’t contain binder slows drying a little and decreases opacity. That basically makes water a jack of all trades additive, which is why the specialised ones aren’t needed unless you really want something specific.

 

So what do I do with each?

Well, if I’m doing a quick bit of painting or only need a small amount, I use water because messing with all the other additives is pointless effort. When I am using them, their ratio varies depending on what I want the paint to do. While some painters use a standard mix, I prefer to adapt it for the purpose – they’re there to change the properties, so why limit myself to one change?

 

For my base coats, I want a nice smooth layer of solid colour that dries quickly enough to put several coats down and move on. I don’t use Drying Retarder or Matte Medium, as they would slow it down and need more layers to get the colour coat. I generally add a bit of Flow Improver to thin them out and help them spread without brush strokes showing up, and a bit of Water to make them last longer in my palette. If I’m using my wet palette, which I only really get out when I’m doing more complex or subtle blends (because I’m lazy and it’s not really necessary), then I don’t need to add the water as some will diffuse up from the palette and slow the drying. Using Flow Improver here means I can use less additive than just using water, giving me a bit more opacity and thus fewer base coats to get a smooth colour.

 

For shading, I want something that isn’t too opaque, which makes for a smoother blend between colours. I also want something that will flow a little towards the recesses, but still hold on the rest of the surfaces so I can get a good fade with it (rather than it pooling like a wash). Because I blend the layers in, I also want a bit of a drying time extension. That means all three, but I use a bit more Flow Improver than Matte Medium to get it to pull into the recesses gently. It kind of resembles a thick wash, or something like a heavy ink.

 

For midtones, I want something a little different to the base coat; a less opaque colour to blend and layer, which means adding Matte Medium and a bit of Drying Retarder to the base coat mix. I want this to flow easily, but have just enough Matte Medium in it to stay where I put it rather than flowing off the raised areas.

 

For highlighting, I use more Matte Medium in each successive layer. As I get to the final layer, it’s usually almost 50% Matte Medium, with a drop of Drying Retarder to help the blending and just enough Flow Improver to make it come off the brush cleanly.

 

For washes, I use a small amount of paint and probably twice its volume in Flow Improver. I usually add some Drying Retarder too. This will make it run into the recesses well, and the Retarder slows the drying enough to reduce any tidemarks that can form if the wash dries faster than the pigment can be pulled into the recesses. No Matte Medium makes the wash pool strongly in the recesses, adding a tiny bit of Matte Medium will make it form a very thin coating over everything, but much stronger in the recesses (a bit like an ink if you get the mix right). The fact that there’s so much additive with so little binder means the wash has to dry fully before painting over, or it will come off in patches.

 

For glazing, I like a very viscous paint with really low opacity. Because it’s such a thin layer that needs building up repeatedly, I don’t want it to take too long to dry. This basically means a tiny amount of paint and a lot of Matte Medium (something approaching 75% Medium). I then use a small dribble of Drying Retarder, just enough to stop it partially drying as I try to put the layer down. I sometimes add a tiny amount of Flow Improver, but only if the glaze won’t coat smoothly. The last thing I want is for it to flow on the model, as it needs to cover the area evenly.

 

For freehand, there are two stages. When I’m outlining, I want a fairly easy flowing paint I can wipe away if I make a mistake. I make sure to use Drying Retarder and Flow Improver, with only a little Matte Medium. As it’s a very small amount of paint, pooling or running isn’t so much of an issue. When it comes to filling in and detailing it, I use more Matte Medium and less Flow Improver so I can control it all better.

 

So there we go. The basic concepts of how and why I use additives (the why is more important I’d say, that’s the only reason for trying them). Basically, I add Matte Medium to reduce opacity, Flow Improver to get it to come off the brush and pool as much as I want, and a dab of Drying Retarder in anything I want to blend or do complex stuff with.

[dgraz]

That was a great article. Thanks for taking the time. It did one incredibly important thing for me.......taught me that I don't need to worry about additives and can stop wasting mental energy thinking about them.

 

Where I paint and when I paint is why I developed my style of painting (which is predominantly layering with minimal actual blending). I can be interrupted at any time and I need to walk away.....could be seconds, could be several minutes, or more.....I never know. So I never worried about any kind of wet-blending or anything like that......and as far as mixing goes, the only concession I've made is to use a Tupperware wet palette so I can close it quick and know that it won't dry out in two minutes.

 

So as you say, if you're just using a little or one thing it isn't worth messing with it and you just use water..........everything I do is like that due to circumstance so water is king.

Thanks.

[Mako]

Pretty much! Though if you've got a wet palette, you can mix them and come back to them - it kind of lets you hit the pause button between short painting sessions. They can settle and spread though, so it's a bit of a double edged sword. 

 

But if you haven't spotted a situation where you're thinking 'I wish the paint was a little thicker when I diluted it like this', then you probably don't need Matte Medium.

Same goes for the others; if there's no problem with the paint properties when you dilute it with water, then don't waste that extra energy figuring them out and using them. They'll screw up your painting a bit while you learn to use them, and take a little extra thought when mixing up and working, so if it's not giving you much benefit it's probably not worth it!

[dgraz]

 

But if you haven't spotted a situation where you're thinking 'I wish the paint was a little thicker when I diluted it like this', then you probably don't need Matte Medium.

 

I do have this issue occasionally when I come back if I thinned it right to the edge....then just that little bit that seeps in from the wet palette dilutes it over the line and I get that; "crap, this was perfect ten minutes ago" situation. So I may start using a Matte Medium for some of the lighter colors.

 

But, as I weed out my old GW paints and replace them with Vallejo I have this problem less and less.

[underdog6750]

Ill admit its good t be back. Ive really enjoyed painting the past few weeks since starting back into malifaux and really pushing my self creatively I had a look through my painting thread recently and am happy to say i have improved. Mainly thanks to yourself and all the other great painters on here for there added in put.

Great little article there mako. Really interesting and im happy to say i did now some of the information in there already. Means i am learning slowly

now you are obviously very busy,trying to sort a new job and settling down but if you are ever up for chatting paint or having a game etc let me know in a fellow York man myself (well Irish but live in York with my family)

Thanks again for some words of wisdom

[spectrehorseman]

Great article dude. I'm not painting at the moment but I've bookmarked this for more consumption later on.

 

I like the part about Matte Medium and its effect on Opacity.  I use Adobe After effects a lot and opacity is one of the functions. I hadn't thought of Matte Medium effecting the Opacity.

 

 

 

@Dgraz - I too am rotating out all my GW paints and replacing with Vallejo.  Ah, why didn't I just start with them?

 

 

PS good to see that Dragon on Yan Lo finally

[Mako]

Ok, so just before I packed up my paints I did one last bit of painting. Once again, a chronicles article. I recommend the magazine generally, but no doubt everyone is only looking for the gencon spoilers in this one rather than reading it!

[underdog6750]

Very pretty :)although i would have done the belly yellow and paler with the back scales blue. Purely out of personal preference. Fantastic model though and very visually stunning

[dgraz]

<sigh>

 

I hate you.

[LordFezzington]

Once again - though this is the first time I've said it - absolutely blown away by the quality of your painting, Mako. Inspiring.

[Mako]

<sigh>

 

I hate you.

Good, good, let the hate flow through you...

I picked that scheme from google, so the yellow top and blue underside weren't really my idea lol. I just found a picture I liked and went "yup, that's the one"

Thanks, lordfezzington!

I need to get some painting done this week I reckon, since I have paint and brush but no glue. Wonder what to do...

[LordFezzington]

I need to get some painting done this week I reckon, since I have paint and brush but no glue. Wonder what to do...

 

 

What have you got to choose from?

[osoi]

Words fail me again Mako, another very impressive piece

[Mako]

Cheers Osoi!

 

My list of stuff I have the supplies to paint is:

 

1 x Lady Justice

1 x  - Scales of Justice

1 x The Lone Marshal

3 x Death Marshal (who are almost entirely sorted, I should do the last bit really)

 

3 x  - Mechanical Dove

1 x Colette DuBois

1 x Cassandra

1 x Coryphee

2 x Metal Gamin

1 x Performer

1 x Rasputina

3 x Ice Gamin

 

1 x Ototo

1 x Izamu, the Armor

 

I'll probably open the case so I can get to it all, and just see what I pick up first. Subconscious choices!

[Guardian]

Great paintjob as usual Mako!

Although, the model itself isnt really up my alley, doesnt look very malifaux-y...

[NoHero]

 

Cheers Osoi!

 

My list of stuff I have the supplies to paint is:

 

1 x Lady Justice

1 x  - Scales of Justice

1 x The Lone Marshal

3 x Death Marshal (who are almost entirely sorted, I should do the last bit really)

 

 

I'll probably open the case so I can get to it all, and just see what I pick up first. Subconscious choices!

 

 

As a Guild player I can't wait to see your Guild stuff!

[underdog6750]

I would love to see your take on the show girls. They are fantastic models and painted a crew up for a friend. Some of my best work in my own opinion. So would love to see how you do them

[jonahmaul]

First time I've commented on here (despite being registered on the forums for a while I've only started using them regularly recently) and just want to say that all your stuff is fantastic Mako.  I red all the Wyrd Chronicles cover to cover (ok, so I did skip straight to Gencon releases this time then went back to the start!) and I've always loved the painting articles.  The quality on the Dawn Serpent is fantastic as usual.

[Linus Mcmold]

 

Cheers Osoi!

 

My list of stuff I have the supplies to paint is:

 

...stuff...

 

I'll probably open the case so I can get to it all, and just see what I pick up first. Subconscious choices!

 

 

Didn't you paint Cassandra already?

I know because it's the best looking Cassandra I've seen...

Can't wait to see your fully painted Ten Thunder box btw. (also one of my favourites)

Bonus question. How do you like the new Kirai design?

EDIT

Love the serpants head. It looks so much different because of the contrast. Almost human like...

Very dynamic basing.

[Mako]

Thanks all!

The new kirai, I'm afraid to say, does not work for me. Her appeal originally was that she was a different personality and mood to the others, a mournful sadness. Suddenly she appears to have just gotten over it magically. It'll take some really good fluff to make that sculpt fit as Kirai's ongoing story without the jarring, inelegant 'everything changes' button being pushed. I'll be making a final choice on her once I've reads the fluff in crossroads, though.

I did almost finish Cassandra, but in the end I decided my painting style had changed since I did, so she got stripped when I cleaned back the whole crew to primer (only 2 had paint on...) ready to be painted as one coherent set.

Jonah - good to hear people are enjoying reading them!

Hopefully I'll get time to paint a little today, and maybe get an update up over the weekend if there's good progress.

[dmeep]

apart from the hungering darkness Id like to see you do the showgirls, iazamu and after that its a coinflip between ototo or raspy.

 

While Raspy is one of the newer sculpts I prefer over the original Justice and her crew doest excite me at all so do her last. ^^

[Viruk]

What a fantastic paintjob on this one! Love the colors you used, very nice composition. I'm going to be painting one myself so your article is a treat! (though I'm still thinking about using the standard red-yellow color scheme).